1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns shaving cartridges. More specifically, it pertains to hand-held razor cartridges having at least one, but preferably a plurality of spaced-apart cutting edges for shaving and pass-through areas or apertures located between the cutting edges to accommodate removal of shaving cream and cut whiskers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For centuries, men and women have used sharpened blades to shave whiskers and hair from their faces, legs and other areas of their body. The initial instruments were crude and caused much discomfort, irritation and laceration. Within the last 50 years, however, the art of shaving has been vastly improved. As personal hygiene has become of greater importance, the industry has looked to novel shaving systems that maximize close, long-lasting shaves, free of irritation and discomfort.
One of the improvements in the last few decades has been the multi-blade, disposable, safety razor. This device generally comprises a razor cartridge, for use with a handle. Two shaving blades are mounted in the cartridge in parallel, spaced-apart arrangement with their cutting edges slightly protruding from the front edge of the blade receptacle. As the user moves the cartridge and blades therein along the shaving plane, the cutting edges of the blades shave off the whiskers and hair.
However, conventional multi-blade razors collect debris between the blades and within a short period of time, an inventory or buildup of this debris, i.e., whiskers, shaving cream and water, accumulate sufficient to inhibit the designed smooth shaving action. To regain the desired shaving effect, the user must frequently rinse the razor blades of this inventory. This has proven to be a tedious task.
One of the leading causes of this problem lies in the way the razor blades are assembled. The blade cartridge is slightly longer and wider than the blades and the bottom or base provides a platform on which the blades are placed. In the assembly of the elements, the first razor blade is placed on the base of the cartridge with its cutting edge extending slightly forward or at an angle thereto for shaving action. A narrow spacer plate is next placed on the top surface of the blade, then another razor blade is laid on top of the spacer plate. The spacer plate is narrower than the blades so that its leading edge does not interfere with the cutting action of the razor blades. After the second blade is laid down, the top of the cartridge or cap is laid over the stack. A plurality of pegs or stubs, made integral with the cap, are directed downward into openings formed in the blades and the spacer plates and seated in apertures formed in the lower wall of the base. A rivet or other fastening device is incorporated with these stubs to render the whole stack locked tightly together. Unfortunately, to make this whole stack of elements a fixed combination of parts, it is necessary for the spacer plates to extend the full length of the blades. This creates concave areas between the razor blades and the spacer plate where soap, water and cut whiskers accumulate and eventually build up past the edges of the blades causing the blades to be held away from the skin. These cavities must be continually rinsed to allow the blades to resume their shaving ability. This rinsing procedure uses relatively large volumes of water and is thus wasteful of our natural resources. In addition, the rinsing step increases the overall time needed to shave, thus removing from the work force units of time which could be more efficiently employed elsewhere.
The present invention is a novel, multi-blade razor that is simple and efficient to produce and that contains wash-through apertures between the razor blades allowing the blades to remain free of soap and whiskers throughout the shaving process. The present invention creates these pass-through areas by placing spacers between the blades thereby creating an unobstructed open aperture extending from front to rear of the blade cartridge. Once the blades have cut the whiskers, the soap, water and other debris are displaced from the face of the cartridge near the cutting edges of the blades to the rear of the cartridge and pushed out therefrom by introduction of other soap, whiskers and debris introduced along the cutting edge of the razor blade. This allows the debris to be continuously removed from the razor blade without the need to rinse the area. In addition, the aforesaid inventory of debris may be flushed away by an incoming stream of water directed through the apertures.